The rantings of a teacher who retired from the classroom but not from education.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Not A Savvy Way To Run Anything

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There is a neighborhood bar and pizza place I frequent often. It is an upscale place with great food and a good selection of beer and other alcoholic drinks. The bar is always full as people who work in the neighborhood always stop by after work. One of the big attractions is the friendly bartender, who like Sam from Cheers, knows every one's name.

This place recently got a new owner. She is intent on making changes, some for the good, others to just irritate her staff. Her newest move has the bartenders wearing ties and it is making them unhappy. I for one can't understand this move. The guys look good with or without these accessories. No one is coming in, or staying away, because of the ties. Morale is sinking fast and with it, the quality of work. This new owner obviously knows nothing about the importance of keeping workers happy, especially when it cost nothing to do this.

All of this brings me to the current state of education. At Unbelievable HS, teachers are feeling like these bartenders. They are constantly being demeaned, put down and disrespected. There are supervisors barely out of diapers, untrained and inexperienced. The person in charge is either blind to what is going on or, enjoys seeing the staff miserable, or, just doesn't care. Whatever the reason, education will be the big loser here.

Being kind and respectful to employees should be a no brainer. People produce more when they are happy. Maybe this is all just a ploy to get them all to quit.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Great post and so true. I wonder if the new owner even bothered to ask the staff what they thought was needed. If you ever watched the TV show "Kitchen Nightmares", the same theme is repeated week after week--the owner is a bully who doesn't respect his/her staff. They just want to control and don't care about input. Yet, they can't understand why they are not making a profit. Teachers need to be a big part of the decision-making process. No one allows us to do this--not even Randi or Mulgrew--yet it's okay when we get blamed.